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Battle of Crowe's Landing
*Crowe's Landing Garrison **Battlegroup Adamant **Patrol Group Warspite **19th MEB **304th Infantry Division **105th Air Force *Task Force Gladiator *The Shadowed Night *Vanguard of Forgotten Solace |forces2= *Fleet of Expedited Vengeance *Bloodied Claw Raiders *Akulus Clan *Tyremus Clan *Rath Clan |casual1= |casual2= }} The was a protracted battle fought during the Remnant War. Taking place over six days, the Covenant Remnant attempted to lead a breakthrough assault into the UNSC's interior through the world of Crowe's Landing. Over the course of six days, the UNSC would take horrendous casualties attempting to defend Crowe's Landing, in turn causing high casualties to the poorly coordinated Covenant assault force. The arrival of reinforcements from the UNSC, including Spartan operators, as well as Sangheili intervention, allowed the UNSC to turn the tide, causing immense casualties on the ground, then eventually destroy their fleet piecemeal in orbit. Despite this, the battle would render the world of Crowe's Landing useless as a commercial and military hub, and the casualties taken would be difficult to replace. The Covenant Remnant, in turn, were severely knocked off balance by the sheer number of casualties suffered. Background Remnant War The Remnant war had begun six months earlier with an undeclared attack on the colony of Greenwell, which was razed to the ground. Similarly, forces attacked several Sangheili colonies simultaneously. While skirmishes and raids by the Covenant Remnant were common, the Office of Naval Intelligence and Republic Justiciars had little idea of the true scale of the Remnant battle plans, or the forces at their disposal. Caesercus' Blitzkrieg Caesercus was considered one of the best and brightest Fleet Masters in the Remnant, and had proved this in combat between rival warlords and enemy raiders. When the Remnant made plans to strike at the UNSC, Caesercus was given command of a sizeable fleet at the tip of the spear. A veteran of the Great War, he was familiar with human tactics and technologies and initiated a blistering assault on the flanks of the main advance. World after world fell under his efforts, and the few defences the UNSC mounted could not contain him. However, he had hit a wall at the battle of Heng Sha. Unexpectedly dropped out of slipstream space far from the planet, they suffered losses while approaching the small colony, defended by only a frigate squadron. His fleet made it in time to see the UNSC leave with most of the colonists. This occurred on two more worlds, leading Caesercus to postulate the UNSC devised some kind of gateway system, similarly to the legendary Maginot Line of Forerunner myth. At Castellum, he got his answers. Prelude At Castellum, Caesercus happened upon an event of great luck. During the battle to take the colony, a UNSC Destroy was scissored into pieces by the focused energy projector fire of a battleship. The resulting microdebris, travelling at high speeds, perforated a cloaked Prowler in orbit and sent it crashing onto the planet. The ship wreck was secured by Caesercus' men, and the survivors, including a number of key operatives and officers, as well as any intact data, were taken to Caesercus' flagship. Under torture, many of the individuals spilled secrets, including scraps of information on the UNSC's Slipspace Scrambler technology. Eventually, piecing it together with information recovered from the wreck of the Prowler, he discovered their network of scramblers as well as their access codes, allowing him to bypass them. Rather than immediately disseminate this data, he kept it to himself and a few loyal officers, seeing it as a bargaining chip to rise in the ranks even further. To keep it secret, he threw the prisoners into the slave holds, or executed them, his officers feasting on them. Telling the Prophet in command of his fleet group, Absolution, of his discovery, he asked for all fleets in the region to be placed under his command so he could lead an all out attack on the human territory. Absolution, weary of this, demanded that he be allowed to supervise. Begrudgingly, Caesercus agreed. Caesercus now had a monstrous fleet at his disposal, with battle hardened crews and elite Legions. UNder his flag he also had Absolution's close ally, Prince Jor Ruk, of the Bloodied Claw raiders. Drawn to the scent of blood, two allied Jiralhanae clans, the Akulus and Tyremus, and and allied clan of Kig-Yar, the Rath. Meanwhile, at Crowe's Landing, the UNSC presence had been fortified. As an important hub of economic and military activity, it's defences had been increased substantially. Carrier Battlegroup Adamant had been commanded to move to Crowe's Landing several weeks before, using it as a base to defend and patrol. Patrol Group Warspite had also been dispatched to patrol this territory, using Crowe's Landing as their base of operation. The 304th Infantry Division had been positioned in makeshift camps the prior month, but had now began construction of more dedicated defensive positions, constructing trench works, automated ground sensors, bunkers, anti-aircraft positions and MAC cannons. They were supported by the 105th Air Force, for the purpose of air defence, electronic warfare and tactical strikes. In orbit, the UNSC possessed a dozen Oranos-class Orbital Defense Platform, each with attendant squadrons. A day and a half away in defensive positions in the Juno system was Task Force Gladiator. Taking positions in the next logical strike target of the Covenant, they were well prepared for a battle. Task Force Gladiator contained numerous elite units, including two Dreadnaughts, a super carrier and assault carrier, the 7th Marine Expeditionary Force, ODSTs and other special forces. En-route to Crowe's Landing following a successful mission to sabotage Remnant refuelling positions, the UNSC Eidolon, a stealth-modified Carrier carried three companies of Spartans, most of whom were still well prepared for battle. Crowe's Landing functioned as one of the closest ports to Sangheili trading lanes and a number of Sangheili forces were in defensive positions close to Crowe's Landing. Closest was the Shadowed Night, a special task force containing numerous elite units, designed for quick and violent strikes to incapacitate enemy forces. Officially on reserve, their impulsive commander, Kasr 'Revsar, would leap headlong into battle against the Jiralhanae. A day away from Crowe's Landing was the Vanguard of Forgotten Solace, a huge task force headed by the Imperator himself, Thel 'Vadam. The High Council had officially declared that Republic forces would only defend Sangheili space, and the UNSC stood alone (This would change after the battle of Sastaras, where the crew of a UNSC cruiser sacrificed themselves to stop a Raider force's predating on a Sangheili colony.). Battle Remnant Approach At 0300 local time, the first elements of Caesercus' massive fleet dropped out of slipspace behind the gas giant Ogre in the Leo Theta system. Scouts would initially map the enemy's position so they could attempt to slip into orbit, effectively ambushing the battlegroup and their defensive positions. However, this would e hampered when the Rath clan immediately assaulted a mining station and butchered the crew, but not before the alarm could be sent. Realising that their Slipspace Scrambler network had been breached, the UNSC Adamant launched a short range jamming system, preventing them from slipping into the interior of the star system. The element of surprise lost, Caesercus responded by executing the clan master of Rath, replacing him with a man of his choosing, then ordered his fleet to charge. Knowing casualties were inevitable, he fronted his fleet with commanders recently drafted from Absolution's forces, and from the allied clans, rather than his own fleet. Such actions were not forgotten. Knowing that they'd been penetrated by a deep raiding force, Vice Admiral Lei Yuan dispatched numerous reconnaissance probes to look for further forces. Detecting a massive force massing behind the gas giant, he sent out a distress signal on FTL comms for immediate reinforcements, and proceeded to reinforce his position. Deploying dozens of nuclear mines in front of their position, and establishing clear lines of fire, they waited for the enemy to enter range of their big guns. First Exchange The Remnant fleet began their approach at full burn, intending to reach their enemy as quickly as possible. This lead to immediate disaster when their forward elements struck nuclear mines, disintegrating ships with ease. Out ranged by the MAC weaponry of the UNSC, they took casualties as numerous ships were knocked out by precise volleys of MAC slugs and Ion beams. While dozens of ships were destroyed or crippled, the fleet over all suffered few casualties. Reaching range for projector fire and plasma torpedoes, they fired their first volleys, knocking out three frigates and a destroy of the defenders. In return, Vice Admiral Yuan authorised the use of nuclear munitions, first blinding the Covenant with hundreds of Archer missiles, then nuclear armed cruise missiles, inflicting further casualties. Undeterred, Caesercus ordered his fleet to position themselves within firing range and trade fire with the UNSC. Beleaguered and rapidly losing ships, Vice Admiral Yuan was forced to call a retreat. Covering his ships with more nuclear detonations and flak, his remaining ships slipped out to behind the largest moon of Ogre, intending to regroup and launch hit and run strikes until reinforcements arrived. Meanwhile, the last few ODPs fired in last ditch attempts to halt the Covenant advance, accounting for a number of ships until they themselves were destroyed. Securing orbital dominance, Caesercus set loose his allies and the pirate prince, intending to allow them to ravage Crowe's Landing, while he secured the capital. He also organised some of his raiders to search for and attempt to contain VADM Yuan's 11 ships. They failed to report in, and soon Caesercus' logistics began to feel the strain as Yuan refused to yield, destroying his ships and reinforcements, attempting to throttle his position. Covenant Landings Ship Masters, Chieftains and clan masters were given a simple order in respect to the landings on Crowe's Landing. Caesercus simple said "Do as you wish. The Capital is mine." The Prophet of Absolution interjected this command by ordering that no ship may blight its surface with glassing, and that all Chieftains, ship captains and raiders owe a tithe of supplies and slaves to the Prophet of Deliverance. This resulted in a maddened rush to get to the biggest population centres to secure their loot. This resulted in sudden and uncoordinated landings and came with a number of accidents including mid-air collisions between warships and dropships and even exchanges of fire as competing warlords came up against each other in small hunting grounds. This worked to the benefit of the defending forces. Bolstered by marine forces who had previously been embarked on the battlegroup in orbit, they turned the landing into a shooting gallery. Anti-aircraft guns, missile launchers and anti-ship weapons turned the skies into hell itself, with few Covenant dropships surviving the initial drops and many warships being torn asunder before even disengorging their troops. At the three biggest population centres of Charon City, New Batavia and Clover, the UNSC would enjoy many early successes, with combined air defence and air force reinforcements devastating the Covenant, shooting down their aircraft and raining fire on their landing zones. However, even with the heavy casualties they were inflicting, they were still heavily out numbered and the tide began to turn, ever so slowly. At Charon City, the Remnant choked the UNSC's positions with waves upon waves of Unggoy cannon fodder, before eventually hitting it with their heavy infantry, resulting in close quarters fighting in trench works and bunker complexes, over running many stationary gun positions, their operators firing their weapons at swarms of overhead fighters until the Remnant dragged them from their guns. At Clover, Prince Jor Ruk, having already taken casualties fending off vultures from the Rath clan, used similar tactics by sending waves of Unggoy slaves into the jaws of death, before slowly advancing with his own shield carrying infantry, supported by marksmen. This boiled down to bloodied street to street battles, with UNSC and Kig-Yar sharpshooters fighting cat and mouse battles. However, once he achieved air superiority, Jor Ruk's main priority was looting and rounding up civilians. During the pitched battle for New Batavia, the UNSC was caught in a three way battle between the competing alliances of Chieftains seeking glory on this field and themselves, and enjoyed an easy victory as they defended the hilltop city from warriors already tired by battling each other. At the capital of Crowe City, Caesercus elected to surround the city and begin a siege, gradually advancing on positions with the interest of taking the city block by block with minimal damage to the infrastructure or populace. Using the city's own orbital elevators he dropped vast amounts of infantry into the interior, opening up a new front. Establishing a superior position, he chose to wear down the defenders rather than march in. Massacre at Freeport At the town of Freeport, the 667th Infantry Regiment held their position against the full brunt of the Akulus' clan. Out numbered ten to one, and without any kind of air support, they held their positions until dawn of the second day of the battle, using the corpses of their enemies and allies as cover, and taking Covenant weapons when their own ran dry. Knowing that reinforcements would not come, and that defence of the town was no longer feasible, the commanding officer ordered them to take the civilians into the mountains to a better position. Those that stayed behind were massacred, along with the small rearguard. Akulus had not interest in slaves though, he was hear to hunt, and taste flesh. Leading waves of infantry into the mountains, they hunted, butchered and ate the remains of the regiment, and the civilians they protected. Taking hundreds of survivors to their camp for food, entertainment and sport, they planned to enjoy them long into the night, knowing that the 667th's desperate distress calls had not been answered. That mistake would cost Akulus his life. First Wave of Reinforcements What Akulus, not any other Remnant warrior on Crowe's Landing knew, was the first of the UNSC's reinforcements had arrived. The stealth vessel, Eidolon, had quietly entered the system and deposited 3 companies of battle ready Spartans on the surface. The 667th's distress call had been intercepted by Blackjack company, who rushed to their aid. Finding the gruesome massacre, they tracked the Akulus Clan back to their camp in Freeport. There they witnessed their barbarism first hand. Their prisoners, both soldier and civilian were cooked and ate, often still alive, or released and hunted down, or tortured for entertainment. The Spartans of Blackjack, infuriated by what they saw, moved into advanced positions surrounding the numerically superior Clan, and proceeded to quietly massacre their outer defences. Knocking out their sentries and outer forces without raising their alarm, they got into positions surrounding the 700 warriors involved in the feast. The Next 20 minutes was considered an outright massacre as the Spartans brutally, and efficiently, killed every single Jiralhanae. 300 Spartans committed near total annihilation upon the Akulus Clan, not even sparing their civilians who arrived to partake in the feast, with Akulus himself being thrown into his own oven, prepared to cook his meals. Less than a dozen members of the clan escaped, mostly by escaping into the sewers, or fleeing. The Spartans, in an effort to be thorough, 'double-tapped' the corpses to ensure the kills, and set alight to whole buildings to ensure their enemies were killed. By the time the Spartans left the area with the rescued prisoners, the once great Akulus Clan was rendered near extinct, the torched head of Akulus placed on a pike, a traditional symbol of a dishonourable death in Jiralhanae culture. This served as a warning to the Remnant, who's scouts discovered the scene of this massacre. Similar such scenes followed as Cobra and Fox companies wreaked havoc on the Covenant's rear line, lifting the siege at Charon City, if only for a time. The Shadowed Night Arrives On August 19th, further reinforcements arrived from an unexpected quarter. The Shadowed Night, a task force of elite Sangheili warriors, departed their position when Vice Admiral Yuan's distress call went out. Having been ordered by the High Council to hold his position in reserve, Kasr, and his men, grew restless, as others took glory, and they did nothing while a world and her people suffered under Covenant assault. Defying direct orders, he took all ships under his command and proceeded to Crowe's Landing, arrive at a fortuitous time. Yuan's last few ships had tied up a battlegroup of Covenant ships, who hunted the moons and asteroids of the gas giant to find them. Pinning them against an ice belt, the Covenant prepared to eliminate the last of the ships when the Shadowed Night dropped out of slipspace to their rear. Suddenly caught between two groups of ships, they were exterminated with frightening ease. Now with fresh reinforcements, Yuan pressed the advantage, attacking their rear line. During the chaos, Kasr slipped a great many warriors onto Crowe's Landing, getting forces into Clover and Charon City to reinforce the UNSC's position, though failed to breach the siege on Crowe City. Kasr himself lead a force on the ground with the intention of hamstringing the enemy's rear lines, committing numerous and daring raids, even destroying an orbital carrier with a smuggled anti-matter bomb. However, despite the presence of numerous special forces, to inevitably could not be delayed. By the waning hours of the 19th, forces at Clover had to retreat, losing to ever increasing number of Kig-Yar brigands and their army of slaves. With aerial superiority lost and under artillery and sniper fire, a desperate rear guard action bought time for the remaining forces to escape with as many civilians as they could, to vanish into the surrounding hills. Prince Jor Ruk finished his encirclement of the city, and for the several hundred soldiers, and tens of thousands of civilians left in the city, there was respite. He offered the opportunity to surrender. Many took it, weary of two days of constant fighting. Sweeping the city, Jor Ruk took a great many slaves that day. Continued Losses The UNSC was now rapidly losing ground, as the previously disorganised Covenant forces had now began to regroup. Forces are Charon City were being forced into a tighter and tighter pocket, until the survivors were forced to breakout, cutting their way through enemy lines to relink with resistance at New Batavia. Few made it out, and much like Clover city, many soldiers and civilians were left, trapped in the besieged city, but unlike Clover, they were not given the luxury of choosing to surrender. The Covenant forces pushed the attack, killing many and taking any survivors back to their slave ships in chains. At New Batavia, the remaining forces were losing ground. Despite reinforcements from the other cities, they were coming under increasing pressure, barely holding their ground. The last few combat effective units, along with whatever aircraft were still airworthy would mount a defence so fierce that the Covenant were repulsed multiple times, each time suffering heavy casualties. The Eidolon continued to provide supply and indirect fire support, keeping the defenders armed and able to fight. Similarly, the Demon, flagship of Kasr 'Revsar, continued to provide support, as well as hit and run missions against Caesercus' supply lines. At Crowe City, Caesercus mobilised his troops for the last push. The defenders refused to give way, and he was running out of time. However, Absolution ordered him to stay put. Absolution wanted his goal intact, resulting in Caesercus' forces only making small gains, pushing from the outer suburbs and docklands to the exterior of the inner city zone, where the UNSC's defence only intensified. Mounting casualties, necessary to fuel Absolution's ego, began to infuriate Caesercus and many of his inner circle. Despite this, Caesercus pushed his advance, and reinforcements from other cities gave him the numbers to finally sweep the city. While pockets of resistance remained, he commanded the majority of the city infrastructure, its industry and had secured most of the civilian refuges and evacuation centres. Immediately, Absolution ordered any and all prisoners been removed as tithes for the Prophet of Deliverance. Angered by the fact Absolution ripped half of his prize away from him, Caesercus entered arguments with Absolution in their command camp, though Caesercus could not change his mind. This widened the increasing gulf between Absolution and Caesercus, and would sow the seeds of their mutual downfall. Out in the lowlands, in small hamlets and farming settlements, the Rath Clan and Bloodied Claw went from homestead to homestead, killing or enslaving anybody they found, tracking evacuating civilians across the county. They ran virtually unopposed until Cobra company started to track them, but by this point they'd gotten most of the population from these territories. Cobra mopped up any stupid enough to remain behind and sabotaged much of Rath Clan's heavy gear, preventing them from reinforcing their allies. Second Wave Of Reinforcements At 0900 on the 20th, reinforcements finally arrived. Using slipspace beacons deployed by the Adamant, Task Force Gladiator, consisting of 160 warships, dropped out of slipspace on the dark side of the gas giant, Ogre. Linking up with Yuan's remaining warships and the Shadowed Night, they hatched a plan. Despite being out numbered,almost 3 to 1, they were in luck. Yuan and Kasr's efforts to attack their supply lines and rear echelon had yielded results. Strangled by this, Caesercus' rear echelons were stretched thin trying to find the lair of the last few ships, and the vast size of Ogre, its distance and its unique celestial properties, including a triple ring structure and hundreds of moons, as well as geomagnetic disturbances, meant finding them was near impossible without more ships. As well as this, the dangerously stretched supply lines had come under heavy casualties, as Yuan's ships had preyed upon them with ease as they entered the system, while elsewhere the supply ships had suffered from unrestricted Prowler warfare, the stealth ships assaulting them in their berths, and even bombing them during slipspace travel. This supply issue choked them of ammunition, supplies, reinforcements and most importantly, fuel. Most of their ships were running on fumes, and the fuelling station orbiting Ogre was far too dangerous to use, as Caesercus wisely guessed they'd positioned nuclear mines around it, to protect it for their own use. Fleet Admiral Galia Meir, confident that their supply situation would allow her forces to simply starve the enemy into defeat, was willing to hold their position and let them run out of fuel. This changed when the situation on the ground grew more desperate. Caesercus now had amost full ground control, and aside from pockets of resistance in Crowe City, and New Batavia still holding, all other forces had been swept away, and the special forces ravaging the forces in the countryside were finding themselves increasingly out numbered and out gunned, against increasingly larger numbers, who now began to fortify their positions and dig in. The situation was desperate, as was made more desperate by the fact it appeared reinforcements had slipped through their net. A large fleet of unknown origin had been spotted at extreme range in slipspace, approaching Crowe's Landing. Admiral Meir had to act now. Taking her fleet, and the remnants of Battlegroup Adamant and Shadowed Night, she sounded the charge. The Covenant fleet, detecting this new threat at long range, moved to a broadside centric battle line, intending to pepper them with hundreds of plasma torpedoes before they hit range. Their ability to fire on their foe was hampered when electronic warfare vessels from Gladiator moved forward to jam their sensors, blinding the Covenant guns, which had to fire blindly at rapidly manoeuvring ships, which were weaving towards them. At a range of 400 kilometres Meir ordered the fleet to be suppressed with a heavy barrage of MAC munitions, knocking out a number of ships, with the intention of boxing them in. At a range of 80 kilometers, her fleet fired almost their entire supply or Archer missiles, accompanied by a secondary barrage of nuclear munitions. During the charge, Meir's flagship, the UNSC Titan knocked out two assault carriers in the opening exchange, cutting both in half with the colossal laser weapon mounted on the ship. The UNSC Cole, a recently refitted Myth-class Dreadnaught, also accounted for several high profile kills. The commander, Admiral Jan Snow, was awarded the Navy Cross for charging an Assault Carrier headlong and firing both Super MAC rounds into it the moment it dropped its shielding to fire its forward batteries, firing at the range of only 2 kilometres, barely evading the now destroyed hulk of the Assault Carrier. Despite the advantage in surprise and firepower, they were out numbered and already beginning to lose ships. Caesercus, directing his fleet from the ground, ordered them to hold their position and don't break ranks. This looked to be a sure fire success, until a slipspace portal opened up in the midst of their flank. The Sanghelios-class Dreadnaught, the Ancient Curse, tore its way into real space and smashed its way through two cruisers with contemptuous ease. A day before, when Kasr abandoned his post to aide in the defence of Crowe's Landing, the High Council had ordered Imperator Thel 'Vadam to send a group of ships to retrieve him. Thel obliged, taking almost one hundred warships in pursuit. 'Vadam, like all fleet commanders in the region, been ordered not to help the UNSC if they came under attack. Positioned away from the bulk of the fighting, 'Vadam had resented this decision, and at the opportunity to leap into battle, he creatively interpreted his orders from the High Council. Now flanked by a fresh Sangheili fleet, eager for battle, and on equal footing in terms of numbers, Caesercus ordered his forces to retreat to a more defensible position, over his artillery guns positioned outside of Crowe City. This tactic would prove difficult to support when the UNSC and Sangheili mounted low level assaults. Counter Attack With the two fleets battle each other in orbit, Meir and 'Vadam quickly organized a joint assault on the surface. Warships were sent to alleviate the siege on New Batavia, with the Eidolon and the Demon returning to pick up their respective forces, while deploy vast amounts of artillery against the enemy camps around the city. Other forces laid siege to the entrenched forces at Clover and Charon City, almost flattening the latter with artillery. At Crowe City, the Jiralhanae, who had barely entrenched the city, now faced the approaching forces of assault carriers in Battlegroup Colorado and Force Divine Reckoning, as well as numerous squadrons of fighters and ground forces landing around them. Caesercus was confident of success, but the blistering and remorseless attack of the UNSC, shocking even their Republic allies, knocked his defenders off balance. They opened fire on many of the warships close to the periphery, firing MAC rounds so destructive the ships were torn to pieces and fell upon their own armies, exploding and taking entire legions with them. ODSTs and Republic Assault Troops took the high ground in a drop pod assault, siezing the majority of the Covenant artillery and turning it on their own ships, as well as directing precision fire against the few Jiralhanae hardpoints on the ground. Caesercus elected to retreat his forces across the river seperating the hilly suburbs from the city itself, destroying the bridges and focusing on concentrating his anti-aircraft components to defending these positions. On the western side of the city, he'd positioned large armoured regiments, protected by large complements of fighters and anti-aircraft guns, arranged in flak batteries on the few crags large enough to hold them. Taking personal command of this battle, Caesercus spread his forces in deep flanks, confident he could take the brunt of the pincer movement by the UNSC and the Republic. The UNSC took a southern route, approach across the flats with squadrons of M808G1 Battle Tanks, backed by squadrons of more specialised tank destroys. To the North the Republic advanced in their new Poltergeist tanks, supported by the heavier Demon heavy tank and Scarab platforms. The Covenant mistakenly identified their tanks as standard Wraiths, being unfamiliar with the newly deployed Poltergeist, and thus were confident because they severely out numbered them. While UNSC strike fighters attack the Covenant aircraft above, the UNSC also opened up a 3rd front during the battle. Against the ocean, there were large, flat plains, but surrounded by hills that obscured them from the Covenant lookouts. Several squadrons of Petrels, filled with Scorpion battle tanks, flew in low and air dropped squadrons of tanks at a height of a few metres, a tactic used in practice, but for the first time used practically, in combat conditions. While few in numbers, these tanks would swing the battle. First contact between these clashing armoured regiments was made at 1247, when the first wave of Remnant Wraiths opened fire from behind a cliff onto approaching Scorpion tanks. Confident that they were safe from retribution, they quickly realised their mistake when the first wave of guided munitions landed. Using over head UAVs, the Scorpions pinpointed their targets and fired indirect guided munitions, slamming them down on their weak upper armour. Realising they were exposed, they attempted to fall back to meet their reserves, and in the chaos the Scorpions closed the distance and opened fire at short ranges, destroying their opponents with little resistance. Further north, the forward elements made contact with the large force of Covenant Wraiths defending the high ground. Confident of their advantage, they began to fire munitions at the evading Republic tanks, scoring few hits. Knowing their opponent needed to close the distance to them in order to fire, the commander ordered them to hold their position. The Poltergeist tanks, identifying their targets with, began to pick them off from a distance, their long ranged particle cannons capable of knocking a Wraith out in a few hits. Quickly realising they were out gunned by this new class of tank, the commander extorted his troops to stand to the last man. They did. The Sangheili stormed over the position, taking few casualties as they swept all resistance from the hill. Both pincers met the main force an hour later, where they'd entrenched a line. Pounding their position with artillery. Once they were happy with the damage inflicted, they advanced. To their south, a squadron of Scarabs prepared to flank them from woodland and smash into their rear line. The force of tanks to the south ambushed them before they could, in turn, launch their ambush, annihilating the Scarabs in a close ranged fire fight before moving to assault the defensive line to the south. Now hit on three fronts, they were forced to retreat. The defensive line was overran and the route to Crowe City was opened up. Battle of Crowe City With most of his forces in retreat of disarray across the planet, Caesercus focused his considerable skill on defending Crowe City. Ordering his infantry to fortify every city block, and destroy anything of advantage to the enemy. Bridges were destroyed, tunnels collapsed and strategic structures they couldn't hold were brought down. Absolution, there to oversee the transfer of the tithe, elected to quietly escape, using one of the many Spires established around the city to translocate back to his Carrier, only to find out his subjects had abandoned him. Formerly loyal ship masters had swapped allegiances to Caesercus, and changed their formation, so now his Assault Carrier was very much exposed. Within minutes of translocation, Absolution now found a Sangheili boot to his throat, as warriors from the Republic stormed his carrier and killed his underlings. Caesercus had one opportunity to recover this situation. He was going to lose the battle, it was only a matter of time. His only option was to get as many of his loyal forces off the surface, as well as the many captives they had, which would win him the good graces of the generals he had failed with this assault. Positioning commanders loyal to Absolution, or the Tyremus clan close to the front, he held his men back in supporting roles. Unable to raise the Akulus or Reth clans, he assumed they had been destroyed. Prince Jor Ruk and his raiders were also silent, and Caesercus assumed they had escaped with their prize. While many forces advanced upon Crowe City, the most dangerous foe was the 7th Marine Expeditionary Force. One of the most elite group of Marines in the UNSC, they were commanded by Colonel Arne Zabaleta, a man that had defeated Brutes on every engagement, and had a huge bounty issued on his head by the Remnant. He was backed up by UNSC Army Rangers and Force Recon, and proceeded by Shock Troopers and a special forces unit codenamed 'Vympel'. 7th MEF, known as the Seventh Column, cut a hole straight through the multi-layered defence, the Brutes unable to defend against such focused and ferocious attacks. Using combined arms combat to pound their positions with artillery, then strike them with mobile armour and mechanized infantry, Colonel Zabaleta's troops leapt into the fray, storming the Remnant trenches, and engaging the Jiralhanae and their Unggoy slaves in hand to hand combat, bludgeoning and bayoneting their way through the enemy. Such was their ferocity, the Field Commander of the legion in their path told his superiors he didn't fight men, but demons. Soon after, his position was over run, and members of the 7th MEF would kill him in battle. Where the Jiralhanae had confidently smashed the bridges, they only left token defences, imagining nobody could bridge the span, or would be foolish enough to try. The Imperator, taking command of the Ru'kran Legion, took position on the opposite bank and suppressed the Jiralhanae defenders, while Sangheili engineers laid down a replacement bridge, hails of plasma fire doing little to deter them. Once the gap, along with two others further down the river had been bridged, armour poured over, opening up a new assault route into the city. Dropships entered the canyons of skyscrapers and began to take the Covenant back, building by building. The human centric Tan'rith Legion also earned fame during these battles, dropping straight onto skyscrapers and pushing the Jiralhanae out. The Imperator himself lead a airborne strike against their southern command position, a large skyscraper belonging to a telecoms company, dropping into battle amidst a hail of flak, and cutting a path through the Jiralhanae's defences. Above the city a fierce air battle raged. Caesercus' few in-atmosphere capital ships fought at knife fight range against Republic and UNSC warships, their ships failing to hold their position, and falling into the sea, or the bay, plasma and burning fuel streaming from the burning hulks. Aircraft fought pitched battles, as squadrons of Banshees and Seraph's desperately tried to hold back the swarms of UNSC Axe fighters and their supporting drones. Famed wings, such as Garuda, Avalanche, Vampire and Demons tore apart the Seraphs, their greater experience and skill allowing them to dance around them. Squadrons of Republic Tengu fighters similarly tore through their predecessors, proving the superiority of the newer fighter. This paved way for several groups of UNSC bombers, including Shortsword and Spear bombers, to deploy hundreds of cruise missiles and guided bombs onto Caesercus' defences, flattening what should of otherwise been defensible positions. Gunship support from Hobgoblins and Gladius LASER platforms allowed them to knock out ground forces easily. Caesercus wasn't ready to surrender just yet. Knowing the forces in front of his, in close combat with his foes, were those loyal to Absolution, he authorized close range bombardment, using what little air and space assets he had, and his ground based artillery, turning his forward lines into conflagrations of white hot plasma in an effort to slow his foes. Using the spire defence towers positioned around his position, he directed fire and reinforcements, though these would only forestall the inevitable. Caesercus knew his time was limited. He had to, in tandem, organize a fighting retreat on the ground to his orbiting warships, then a breakout from the encirclement in space. Choosing one of the last officers loyal to Absolution, Amanus, he fed him false intelligence suggesting the attacking heretics were off balance and weak, and a counter attack would give them the advantage. Placing him in command of all the forces loyal to Absolution, Caesercus retreated further to a well defended circle around the space port and established Spires. Amanus would order all his forces to push forward, an attack that bogged down the allies, but failed to halt their advance. Retreat Using any function dropships in his possession, the spire installations, Type-54 Mass Deployment Carapaces and the space elevator, he organized a disciplined retreat, taking his best warriors, any vital hardware and his bounty of slaves, getting them to his remaining carriers in orbit. Leaving a small rearguard and Amanus's quickly failing forces, Caesercus quickly and quietly vacated the planet back to his flagship, the Bringer of Night. He found the situation in orbit to be just as bleak. His forces could find no weak point in the encirclement, and the tide of battle had swung in the favour of the UNSC and their allies from the Republic, who bombarded the defenders in a leisurely manner, intending to take them as their fuel ran out, leaving their ships useless hulks. Believing himself doomed, his force was saved by the 'timely' intervention of Prince Jor Ruk. Jor Ruk reached him on a private channel and asked him if he required assistance. Knowing the scheming creature intended to ask for a price, Caesercus asked him what he wanted. Jor Ruk wanted 1/3rd of Caesercus' slave bounty. Caesercus begrudgingly agreed. Jor's force of agile and skilled raider ships punched a hole in the encirclement, crippling a number of vessels and drawing off more, allowing Caesercus to escape. Despite giving chase, Caesercus escaped to slipspace, the allied fleet unable to pursue because of their own casualties and substantial enemy presence remaining. Shadowed by a Prowler, the UNSC wouldn't easily forget what happened over the last few days. Aftermath Despite achieving their strategic goals of destroying one of the UNSC's major trade centres, the loss of life and materiel was of catastrophic damage of the Remnant. Such was their losses, their blitzkrieg assault, in effect rolling over the UNSC, Republic and Alliance, was blunted. Losing nearly three quarters of the entire strikeforce, their loss of warships was unimaginable. Similarly, entire legions, and whole clans, were rendered extinct on the ground. Their colossal failure to protect their supply lines resulted in a massive loss of vital materiel, which starved their other assaults of desperately needed supplies, with many other strikes rolling to a stop as they ran out of food, ammunition and fuel. So many officers were lost, including Absolution, one of Deliverance's favoured lieutenants, that the upper echelons of the Remnant were torn wide open, a rift that wouldn't be sealed for another year. Forced to give up their gains, much of the Remnant's advances had to be surrendered in the face of renewed counter attacks by their enemies. Caesercus returned in shame, knowing he had failed so completely that his fate was all but sealed. Only his links to some of the old families that formed the high command of the Covenant prevented his trial and execution. It mattered little. Four months afterwards he was assassinated by a survivor of the Tyremus clan, who survived the near extinction of his clan during the battle. Caesercus' actions also caused a division between the Remnant and its allies. The clans allied to them felt they were being used as expendable cannon fodder, and Caesercus' actions proved this beyond a doubt. Many of these clans would distance themselves, or break away entirely. Prince Jor Ruk however, rose in fame. One of the few commanders to succeed during the battle of Crowe's Landing, of the 300,000 slaves captured, Jor owned almost half. Pragmatic and business like in his approach to the battle, his extortion of Caesercus resulted in wealth and bounty he could not imagine. His armada grew in size and strength and Jor would enjoy a great many more years of success, before the Office of Naval Intelligence turned their baleful gaze upon him, and he encountered and steady and slow decline as ONI chipped away at his empire. The devastation wrought on Crowe's Landing would take years to fix. Much of the planet had been devastated by the brief and bloody battle, and a great number of the planets population had been killed or dragged off. Its infrastructure had been destroyed during the exchanges between the UNSC and the Covenant, with buildings gone, factories levelled, transportation links destroyed, vital bridges downed, and the space port and space elevator both damaged. It's orbital port had also been damaged and was forced to be scrapped, the wreckage salvaged for construction of a new space dock. The UNSC however, had gained strong links to the Republic military, who had come to their aid without cause. Their fragile alliance had been cemented, and Republic public opinion was swung by the Battle of Sastaras two weeks later. For Kasr, the next month was difficult. While Imperator Vadam's liberal interpretation of his orders allowed him to lift the siege, he was forced to bring his wilful protege back to Sanghelios for trial. Faced with a military tribunal, Kasr's direct defiance of order from the civilian government created friction between the council and the Republic military, many of whom sympathised with Kasr. When news of the battle of Sastaras reached Sanghelios, public opinion rallied behind Kasr, and many on the tribunal feared that punishing him would make him a martyr for the people, while rewarding him would deepen tension between the military and high council, so they did neither, and allowed him to return to his command. For the 300,000 slaves taken at Crowe's Landing, most would never see freedom again. Many were taken back to be sold on the Remnant core worlds, toiling under their whips and lashes, working to fuel the Remnant war machine. Others were sold to their Kig-Yar allies, who would distribute these slaves far and wide, selling to the the Kig-Yar clans, Jiralhanae Alliance, Storm Covenant on Sarekiim. A substantial amount were kept by Prince Jor Ruk to begin building his fledgling empire, some even serving in his vast slave army, partaking in similar such battles against their own people.